Long time, no blog!

I've had three specific things I've wanted to write about but haven't had the time. So, my game plan has just been to repeat them to myself so that I wouldn't forget :) :

1. My new-found love of and connection with the Sacraments
2. A reviving Easter
3. The importance of youth in the church

There is no telling whether or not I will actually get around to writing about each of these things, but I would like to attempt to devote time to one post a week over the next three weeks in order to hold myself accountable to something besides schoolwork. :) The first topic happens to be the least recent yet one of the most exciting and affirming.

If you're not familiar with the Methodist Church, the Sacraments are a pret-ty big deal in our tradition. I'm not sure that laypeople as a whole are fully aware of their importance, but I'll get to that. In the United Methodist Church, we recognize Baptism and Holy Communion as the two sacraments of the Church.
----
I got baptized when I was five alongside my then infant sister. I remember nothing of that day other than that the sun was shining through the stained glass windows and the preacher held my hand as he paraded me and my sister up one aisle of the sanctuary and down the other so folks could take a good look at the newly baptized babes.

Apart from vaguely remembering my baptism and watching the baptism of others, I had no real connection with baptism up until a few weeks ago. Same with Communion. If I'm honest, Communion Sundays were the Sundays I liked least growing up. My family went to the traditional service where ushers directed you when to go up front, kneel and take the little wafer and plastic cup as the pastor said a prayer over the group gathered. I disliked it because all I could focus on was the fact that I had to walk from the back of the sanctuary to the front and felt people's eyes watching me (or always thought I felt people's eyes watching me) as I made that seemingly never-ending stroll to the altar on the first Sunday of every month. I remember the stress that came with Communion Sunday--the typical middle and high school girl, worried about what she would wear because there was no way that anyone would miss what I was wearing on those particular Sundays. I was entirely too selfish back then, but I guess that's part of traveling through your pre-teen and teenage years.

Besides the fact that I was your typical teenager, I also was never really taught anything about Communion growing up in the Church that I concretely remember. This isn't a blast to my hometown congregation because I love my church family there and appreciate the many ways that they have nurtured and supported my faith throughout my spiritual journey. I think the Church has much to consider when it comes to Christian education: At what age do you start talking with little ones about Communion and the reasons we practice it? How do you talk to kids about Jesus' death and resurrection in a way that doesn't absolutely terrify them (ahh, the days of being literal 24/7...)?

I don't have the exact answers to such questions and others like them. What I do know is that if we want our youth to understand and invest in the important traditions and rituals that we uphold in the Church, it will require that we teach them and teach them well. Not give them some watered down cartoon version of the importance of Jesus' life, sacrifice, death and resurrection, but really brainstorm with other parents, leaders, and other kids who are old enough to help us understand what they would have liked to see, hear, or learn about at a younger age and what ways that those things could have been carried out effectively. It takes communication with one another in order for the collective community to make sense of the Church and the ways that it infuses spiritual vitality and reawakening into God's people.

I say all that to say that I now have a much better grasp about why the Sacraments matter and was actually given the opportunity lead a Baptism and part of Communion during my worship class about a month ago. Bo has always felt a call to preside over the Sacraments, and the Sacraments are a big part of his understanding of his call to be an elder in the Methodist Church. I, however, because I needed to better understand what the Sacraments were and why they were important did not have that connection to the Sacraments and somehow felt inadequate because of it.
----
The class was frantic because the exercises were just sort of sprung on us, and many of my classmates are like me--perfectionists that want direction so as to complete assignments correctly. So, we muddled through the preparatory stages together and eventually it was time for us to lead. As I held the little baby doll in my arms and baptized her "...in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," life re-flooded into me as I felt I understood how important my baptism was and is for the first time and how honored I would be to get to be a part of that crucial first step in the lives of people I baptized in the future. And as I read the words of The Great Thanksgiving and broke the bread and raised the cup, my spirit was renewed and connected to God in a way that had never previously occurred. In my mind, I was taken to "On the night in which he gave himself up for us..." and it struck me that Communion is so redemptive, so restorative, so healing and that I could not wait to lead my future congregations in this ritual in the future.

This call is a gift for which I am grateful. And in the midst of the difficult days, I am OVERJOYED when God opens my eyes and heart to understand why God has chosen me...little old Mary-Kate...for a responsibility that I could have never chosen for or be fit to carry out by myself. Thankful for the trust and faithfulness of God and for the many ways God blesses my life as I learn more about who I am and who I am called to be.